Weider Club 290 Power Tower

My journey to purchasing the Weider Power Club 290 started with a simple search for a pull up bar. After reading numerous reviews of pull up bars, it seemed there were a lot of variables that made a simple pull up bar difficult to select. They were either not sturdy, or didn''t fit certain doorways, or would damage the door''s trim paint, etc.

In that research I learned about the Weider Power Club 290 and several other VKR-type equipment that had pull-up bars. The Weider is more expensive than others, but reviews constantly gave it accolades for being sturdy and easy to assemble. Having limited space, minimum foot print was also important. Compared to lower priced brands, this model takes up the least amount of floor space. I also liked the fact that in addition to pull-ups and chin-ups, I could add vertical knee raises and dips to my routine. Pull-ups, chin-ups, VKR, and dips are all some of the best compound movements that can be done to gain strength, so it was easy to convince myself to spend the extra money.

After receiving this equipment last week, I agree with the reviews I''d read. It is easy to assemble with excellent instructions so long as you spend a few seconds studying each picture (in addition to reading the instructions). It is sturdy (minimal flex...I''m 175 lbs), looks nice, and gives a great workout. Those unsure about whether you can do a pull-up or chin-up may want to look into the Weider Power Club 390, which offers an assist feature to reduce the weight you have to pull up.

My tips for assembly would be (as mentioned above) to study each picture for a few seconds paying attention to when washers are used, etc. I mistakenly assumed washers were used on a couple of steps when they weren''t. I didn''t discover this until a later step when I ran out of washers but still needed 4. I was able to assemble this unit entirely by myself, though the step of adding the arm rests was a bit awkward a second set of hands would have been helpful. The only tools used were a ratchet wrench set, phillips screwdriver, and rubber mallet. Adjustable wrenches would work in place of the ratchet wrenches, but you need to use two.

In summary, I am very happy with this purchase. The equipment looks nice, takes up minimal floor space (for VKR equipment), is sturdy, and provides a great workout compliment to my existing equipment.

Update July 2010: I''ve been using this equipment for 7 months now, and I am still happy with it. One drawback that another reviewer mentioned (and I agree with) is the lack of a real close-grip pull-up. You can do shoulder-width, wide-grip, and the ''inside'' narrow grip, which is still a pretty good variety. Still a 5-star in my opinion though, as I''d much prefer the added ability to do full body weight dips and VKR''s (not to mention the extra confidence in the stability) as compared to a cheap doorway pull-up bar.

I was in the market for a stable, substantial Power Tower to be used primarily for pull-ups and VKR''s. This product fits that description with a few notable flaws. For an easy assembly process, be sure to have a socket set handy (even though it''s not listed as needed) and a few extra washers.

Pros-

Easy to assembletook 1 person about 1 hour with a good socket set

Stable & Substantialeasily supports larger users

Small footprint relative to other Power Towers

Cons-

Arrived with numerous scratches

Foam hand grips for VKR station impossible to install (they are still off)

Many of the washers were stuck together and could not be separated without breaking them

Overall, I am happy with the purchase.

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I have wanted a VKR/dip station for a long time, so I was excited to have received this as a gift. As cited in other reviews, the box arrived in fairly poor condition, and several pieces were scratched. But, hey, it''s exercise equipment it doesn''t need to be pretty :) As the father of 4, I didn''t find time to assemble it right away, so it went down to the basement. This past weekend, with a couple of hours to myself, I went with socket wrench in hand to put this together...and found several problems:

* First, a piece that connects the two base beams that sit on the floor had a bent flange where the drill hole sits. I carefully torqued the bolt that connects that piece to the base beam, and it flattened out sigh of relief.

* Second, while trying to assemble the pull up bars, I discovered that the two pieces that sit on the left side don''t have drill holes that line up. I can''t fix that :(

* Third, now that base is assembled, I notice that it doesn''t sit flat it rocks between the back right and the front left corners by about 3/4 of an inch. Lovely.

So, I called Weider an experience that will not make my ''surprise and delight'' top 10 list. Apparently, I was supposed to ''register'' my product within 30 days (yeah, didn''t see that)...and having failed to do so means that I would have to pay $25 to have new parts sent out to me. Immediately upon voicing my disappointment with that feedback from the customer service rep at Weider, I came to Amazon to write this review. I''ll post some video to illustrate the issues listed above.

So, I lack the ability to provide an opinion about how this product performs because I have yet to finish assembly. However, I wanted to post my experience so far. Hope that someone finds this review useful.

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Unfortunately there is a slight angle to this tower so my knees kept hitting on the way up. Facing the opposite direction helped but it felt less comfortable. The angle is the main reason I am giving this a low score. It''s hard to see the angle from the picture however once I did my first pullup I was pretty disappointed.

Also I really like doing close-grip pullups, which I wasn''t able to do using this tower. I thought the inside pullup grip would suffice, however its spread too far to get the effect I was looking for.

It did seem to be relatively solid, it just wasn''t as functional as I thought it would be.

I took it down and got one of those over the doorway pullup bars instead.

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I wish I could give a positive review for this bench since it is, by design, much more stable than others though manufacturing quality and customer service is poor.

I was given this bench for Christmas and found the pull-up bars were uneven after assembly, by several inches. The arms bolt into the central frame and the bolt holes weren''t drilled correctly. So, aside from the dip station, the bench basically can''t be used.

Weider customer service was polite and offered to replace the offending parts, however, they haven''t been able to actually send the parts or even tell me when I can expect them. It''s been nearly 2 months and the issue remains unresolved, needless to say I''m disappointed with Weider and this product.